Jonathan Sprinkle

mHealth, short for mobile health, is the new buzzword in health care and research. It refers to the practice of medicine and health with the assistance of mobile devices.

Jonathan Sprinkle, a professor in the the University of Arizona Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a member of the UA Mobile Health Special Interest Group, said the work is a "chance to make impact, to help someone or to make a new application that will help someone to transform their health.

In addition to connecting doctors and patients in new ways, mHealth is assisting researchers, who can collect data from individuals through their phones, computer tablets and other mobile technologies.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is bringing computer and electrical engineers into conversation with medical researchers. This is focus of the UA special interest group which now holds annual conferences to discuss mHealth.